Conventional darts are comprised of a barrel, typically made of brass or other metal, a metal point attached to the front end of the barrel, a shaft which can be made of plastic or metal connected to the rearward end of the barrel and a flight mounted at the rearward end of the shaft. The flight is typically made of plastic or reinforced fabric.
The rearward end of the shaft is typically divided into four prongs by an X-shaped slot. The flight is mounted on the shaft by inserting the forward end of the flight into the slot. Such an arrangement has certain drawbacks. If the slot is wide enough to easily insert the flight, the flight can be easily pulled out of the slot. Thus, players must take care not to remove the dart from a dart board or even pick up the dart by the flight. Even with care, inadvertent removal of the flight is a problem.
Narrowing the slot reduces the problem of inadvertent flight removal but makes it difficult to insert the flight into the slot. This is often aggravated if the forward tip of the flight becomes frayed as a result of unsuccessful attempts to insert the flight into the slot. In such situations, players often use a tool such as the tip of another dart to spread apart the prongs of the shaft and widen the slot. This may result in permanent spreading of the prongs or other damage to the shaft or damage to the tip of the dart used to spread the prongs.